EIA DATA FOR FIRST HALF OF 2025 REVEAL:
- SOLAR GENERATED ELECTRICITY GREW 38% AND PROVIDED 8.7% OF U.S. ELECTRICAL GENERATION
- SOLAR + WIND PRODUCED MORE ELECTRICITY THAN EITHER COAL OR NUCLEAR POWER
- OUTPUT BY ALL RENEWABLES GREW 9% - 3x TIMES FASTER THAN TOTAL GENERATION GROWTH
A review by the SUN DAY Campaign of data just released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reveals that solar provided almost 9% of total U.S. electrical generation in the first half of this year while wind + solar produced over one-fifth and the mix of all renewable energy sources generated nearly 28%.
Solar electrical generation set new records in June and the first half of 2025:
EIA's latest monthly "Electric Power Monthly" report (with data through June 30, 2025), confirms that solar continued its streak as the fastest growing among the major sources of U.S. electricity.
In June alone, electrical generation by utility-scale solar (i.e., >1-megawatt (MW)) ballooned by a almost one-third (30.1%) compared to June 2024 while "estimated" small-scale (e.g., rooftop) solar PV increased by 10.5%. Combined, they grew by 25.0% and provided 10.2% of the nation's electrical output during the month. [1]
Moreover, utility-scale solar thermal and photovoltaic expanded by 37.6% while that from small-scale systems rose by 10.7% during the first six months of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024. The combination of utility-scale and small-scale solar increased by almost a third (29.7%) and was 8.7% (utility-scale: 6.5%; small-scale: 2.2%) of total U.S. electrical generation for January-June - up from 6.9% a year earlier.
As a consequence, solar-generated electricity easily surpassed - by almost 45% - the output of the nation's hydropower plants (6.0%). In fact, solar is now producing more electricity than hydropower, biomass, and geothermal combined. [2]
Wind also continues as a renewable energy leader in 2025:
Wind turbines across the U.S. produced more than one-ninth (11.6%) of U.S. electricity in the first six months of 2025.
Their output was 2.4% greater than the year before and almost double that produced by the nation's hydropower plants.
Wind + solar are over one-fifth of total U.S. electrical generation - a larger share than that provided by either coal or nuclear power:
During the first six months of 2025, electrical generation by wind plus utility-scale and small-scale solar provided over a fifth (20.3%) of the U.S. total, up from 18.6% during the first six months of 2024.
Further, the combination of wind and solar provided 25.0% more electricity than did coal during the first six months of this year, and 15.6% more than the nation's nuclear power plants.
Electrical output by the mix of all renewables was almost 30% in May:
The mix of all renewables (i.e., wind and solar plus hydropower, biomass and geothermal) produced 9.2% more electricity in January-June than they did a year ago and provided (27.7%) of total U.S. electricity production compared to 26.1% twelve months earlier.
Electrical generation by the combination of all renewables grew three times faster than that of total U.S. electrical generation (9.2% vs. 3.0%). Renewables' share of electrical generation is now second to only that of natural gas whose electrical output actually dropped by 3.7% during the first half of 2025.
"EIA's latest data reflect the situation prior to enactment of the Trump/Republican megabill which may adversely future renewable energy growth," noted the SUN DAY Campaign's executive director Ken Bossong. "Nonetheless, EIA notes that U.S. developers expect half of new electric generating capacity to come from solar in 2025 and another 13% from wind." [3]
Source: EIA released its latest "Electric Power Monthly" report on August 26, 2025. The full report can be found at: https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly
For the data cited in this release, see Table ES1.A ("Total Electric Power Industry Summary Statistics, 2025 and 2024") as well as Table ES1.B ("Total Electric Power Industry Summary Statistics, Year-to-Date 2025 and 2024").
Notes:
[1] In its "Electric Power Monthly" report, EIA refers to small-scale or distributed solar as "Estimated Small Scale Solar Photovoltaic." Unless otherwise indicated, all calculations presented in this release include electrical generation by small-scale solar which EIA estimates to have totaled 47,025-GWh in January-June 2025 and 9,526-GWh in June alone. Utility-scale solar totaled 142,616-GWh for the first six months and 31,611-GWH in just June.
[2] In January-June 2025, wind produced 252,231-GWh (11.6%) of total U.S. electrical generation while utility-scale and small-scale solar combined produced 189,641-GWh (8.7%), hydropower produced 130,981-GWh (6.0%), biomass produced 22,554-GWh (1.0%), and geothermal produced 7,820-GWh (0.4%).
[3] See EIA's August 20, 2025 news release: https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=65964
The SUN DAY Campaign is a non-profit research and educational organization founded in 1992 to support a rapid transition to 100% reliance on sustainable energy technologies as a cost-effective alternative to nuclear power and fossil fuels and as a solution to climate change.
